Kapiolani Community College
- page 7

Hi,
I am just trying to get some clarity on Kapiolani's RN program. I am a military spouse and am new to the island, so I called this college and was told that they do not take non-residents. ...
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I just got around to reading this thread and although I am glad to see that the direction of the thread has improved, I am disturbed by the things I saw early in the thread. It bothers me that there is more of this military vs local ranting happening here. I am a military spouse and frankly ashamed by some of the things said by the other military spouses ranting on this board, but equally offended by some of the things said by the locals posting. One of the military spouses, amidst her ranting, made a valid point in saying that we pay all state taxes that anyone local pays. The only tax that we are exempt from is Hawaii State income tax for our spouse's income only, and that is because our spouse remains a resident of their home state, unless they choose otherwise, and pays taxes (if applicable) in their home state. Military spouses pay all the taxes that anyone else living here does. We pay income tax, property tax, we pay taxes for state services that we will never use, and we pay taxes to support the community college system that (evidently) we are not given equal access to. The tax-free shopping at the commissary and exchanges is a defined benefit of being in the military, and since the commissaries and exchanges here allow all national guard and reserve members to shop there as well (something that is not guaranteed in other states), plenty of state residents who are not active duty military take advantage of that shopping privilege.

I earned my ADN degree while my husband was stationed in North Carolina. If that school had had the same sort of restrictions that KCC evidently does, my only other avenue to earning my RN license would have been a 2 hour drive to the nearest university with a BSN program 5 days a week for 3 years, something that frankly would not have been possible. I feel blessed that the state of North Carolina not only guarantees resident tuition rates, but prohibits schools from discriminating against military or military dependents, because I would venture to say that my school was even more competitive than KCC, as they accepted only 1 in 10 QUALIFIED applicants, applicants who all met the GPA requirements, had taken all prerequisites and corequisite classes, etc. I got into the program on my own merits, held up equally against other students, maybe I even got the slot over a long-time North Carolina resident because I was more qualified. I certainly don't feel any guilt for that. I worked for 2 years as an RN in North Carolina, and now work here. If all states and schools discriminated as KCC does, making it much more difficult for military spouses to earn their nursing degrees, then the pool of military spouses who are nurses would dry up (6 of the around 30 nurses I work with are active duty military spouses). In addition, while it is true that most military spouses will eventually leave the island, some stay for 10 or more years, and some retire here (again, 4 off the nurses I work with are retired military spouses, so a total of 1/3 of the nurses on my unit either are or were military spouses), so plenty of military spouses contribute to the nursing workforce on the island.

I can sort of see the perspective of KCC and even the local residents in this, but at the same time, I feel they are doing the country and the national community of nurses a disservice in their discrimination. As to legality, I don't know if their policies are legal, but IMO, they are not right. The whole discussion of what Hawaii is and was before the United States invaded them has no place in this venue. Regardless of what Hawaii is, the schools certainly accept federal funding, which comes out of everyone's pockets, including local residents and military.

I really do not want to open a can of worms here, I just wanted to offer a different perspective. I am a military spouse who respects Hawaii, loves living and working here, but I am bothered by the idea that other military spouses might not be getting the opportunities I did because they moved to Hawaii in accordance with their spouse's orders.

We both pay taxes. The only difference is that you are a military dependent and I'm not. Being in the military doesn't mean you are entitled to special treatment.

This bill is about to be passed so all of you military spouses out in Hawaii have no fear, you soon will be able to go to KCC or wherever you'd like!!

This bill just means that if your active duty spouse is from California or any other state excluding Hawaii, then you as his spouse can claim the same state. That still doesn't work for Kapiolani community college, unless the active duty member changes his residency to Hawaii.

I am trying to decide between KCC and UHM.
I keep hearing that there is a "nursing surplus" on the island.
Have you all found jobs from getting the Associate's degree from KCC,
or BSN from UH for that matter??

I feel worried about everyone's warnings about the "surplus" of nurses
and lack of jobs, so I wanted to ask you all if you agree with that.